theodore lang



J. P. T. LANG. Car-Replaoer.

No. 223,290. Patented Jan. 6,1880.

Hill! N-PETCRS, FHOYDJJTHOGRAPNER, WASHINGTON D 04 UNITED: STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

J. P. THEODORE LANG, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

CAR-REPLACER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,290, dated January6, 1880.

Application filed November 13, 1879.

lowing is aspecification.

My invention is a device for facilitating the replacement of street-carsupon their tracks and for preventing said cars from leaving their tracksin turning short curves.

The first and chief object of my invention is to enable the driver ofthe car to lift the car axle and wheels which have left thetrack fromthe ground by one motion of his hand, and without leaving the car or hisplace upon the platform, and without stopping the car or releasing hishold on the reins, and to guide the car easily and quickly to its.track. This is accomplished by a caster-wheel made to swing around thecar-axle by means of a hand-lever on the platform with suitableconnections, which caster wheel treads the ground at a greater distancefrom the center of the axle than the flanges of the car-wheels.

The other object of my invention is to enable the driver to prevent thecar, while turning a short curve of the track or while passing overcasual obstructions upon the track, from being thrown from the track.This is accomplished by giving the above-mentionedhand-leveralaterally-swinging motion upon a universal-joint fulcrum,whereby the casterwheel can be turned at an angle with the center lineof the car, and when thus turned and forced upon the ground withoutlifting the wheels the caster-wheel will guide the car in a directioncounteracting the wrong direct-ion of the car.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figurel is a side elevation of a car-platform provided with my improvedcarreplacer, one wheel being removed to expose the parts otherwisehidden from view. Fig. 2 is a vertical central longitudinal section ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a detail bottom view of my replacer andtherewith-immediately-connected parts of the car. Fig. 4 is a detailview of the operating hand-lever. Fi 5is a detail view of thecaster-wheel and its connectingrod.

A represents an ordinary car-platform; B,

the wheels; 0, axles; D, housings, and E spring-bearings.

One of the axles G, as shown, is provided with a divided sleeve, F,screwed together by bolts f and nutsf, andupon this sleeve, at a rightangle, atube-socket, G, isfo1.'med,into which-socket thcshank h ofaca-sterw heel, H, is inserted. The upper. end, 1, of the socket Gisclosed, and serves as abutment of the shank h, and a little distancebelow the end 9 the shank h is provided with an annular groove, h and atangent-pin, g, bearing in said groove, and, by passing through thesocket at g", keeping the shank from falling out of the socket.

A number of holes, 9 may be provided at different elevations tomeetemergeucies, as will be seen.

A forked'head, 71. of the shank It supports the caster-wheel H-by meansof its shaft k which shaft extends with both ends beyond the forked headIR, and thus serves as means for connecting the forked end i ofa-counecting-rod, I,with said head.

The connecting-rod is, by means of a pin,

71, attached to the lower arm of a hand-lever,

J, and this hand-lever has a horizonlal transverse fulcrum-pimj, in atransversely-swinging fulcrum-box, K. The fulcrum-box K is provided withlongitudinal horizontal journalbearings- ]c, hung in suitablebearing-blocks L on the car-platform, and with a longitudinal slot, is,in which the hand-lever J is inserted.

The sleeve G is kept in a central position upon the car'axle by means ofpins 0 or collars c.

The sleeve Gr may be made in one piece, and will then be slipped uponthe car-axle before the wheels are fastened to it.

My invention may be modified by connecting a lever-arm with the swingingsocket G at about a right angle with it and connecting it with the shortarm of a bell-crank handlever. This modification will, however, onlyserve to lift the car without turning the shaft of the caster-wheel.

In applying my invention to steam-railway cars supported by trucks, mydevice would not need to be permanently fastened to the car, and ontrucks with three axles a caster IOO ver J in such position that itkeeps the casterwheel from the ground as long as its operation is notrequired. As this is an ordinary appliance used in all similar cases, aspecial illustration is not deemed necessary.

Operation: When the car has left the track the driver removes his handfrom the crank of the brake-spindle, and, freeing the hand-lever J fromits hold, moves it over until he finds that the car-wheels do notsupport the car. WVhen the car is on the left side of the track, heswings the hand-lever laterally to the right side, as the dotted linesin Fig. 4 indicate, thereby causing the caster-wheel to be turned towardthe track, as the dotted lines of the bottom view in Fig. 5 indicate,and vice versa. The caster-wheel thus acts as a rudder on a ship, andeasily guides the car back to the track. The driver at lhe same timewill allow the lifted car-wheels to graze the ground slightly, so as tobe made aware by his feeling when the wheel-flanges pass over the highsurfaces of the track, whereupon he quickly moves the lever back to itsnormal position, and the car is replaced on the track.

When the driver sees ahead of the car a curve in the track, whichgenerally causes the cars to run off or be displaced, he turns thecaster-wheel tangentially with the curve and bears on the hand-lever Jwith more or less force, whereby he deprives the car-wheels of thegreater part of their supporting-weight and transmits it upon thecaster-wheel, which,

by means of its direction, has a tendency to' firmly keep its coursebetween the rails of the track.

In case the tracks are temporarily obstructed by mud, ice, gravel, orsmall stones, the car-driver can easily and with'a little judgmentprevent a displacement of the car.

Thisinvention distinguishes itselffrom other inventions known to me fora similar purpose, inasmuch as in case of displacement of a car,

or in case of an effort to prevent such displacement, the ordinaryfunctions of the driver and the horses are in no manner interrupted. Thecar need not be stopped. It is even not necessary to slack its speed.

It will also be seen that during its replacement the car-body rests uponthe spring-bearings E, and thus the passengers are not subjected to thejolts of a caster-wheel fastened directly to the car-platform.

It will further be seen that with my invention it requires a lift of thecar of no more than the height of the wheel-flangessay one and a halfinchto begin the replacement of the car, while With caster-wheels on thecarbody the play of the axle-bearings in their housings must beovercome, which sometimes necessitates a lift of from six to eightinches, thus making the operation difficult and slow, and causinginconvenience to passengers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination with a car-axle, a caster- Wheel constructed to swingvertically around the car-axle and horizontally. with its shank, andsuitable connections for its operation by hand, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the caster H, lever J, and swinging fulcrum K, andconnection I, substantially as and for the purpose set'forth.

3. The combination, with a car-axle, of a caster-wheel hung thereon, andadapted to swing around the same and raise the truck to which it isapplied from the ground, and suitable means in the controlof the driverfor operating the same, substantially as described.

J. P. THEODORE LANG.

Witnesses:

J. RUssELL BARR, A. J. TOLMAN.

